Roccu and The Pop Anarchist

I am at my parents' these days, the Christmas routine is getting underway: old records are waiting to be played again and compulsory yearly steps can't be skipped!

A white cd-rom wrapped up in a red home printed cover is found hidden on a shelf: Roccu and the Pop Anarchist, and it's a flashback of about 10 years.

I suddenly find myself in a little village called Moglia in Emilia Romagna at the second (or third?) edition of the DanceOfDays festival organized by one of the most emo kids of all times: Simone from Modena, also known as Scrimo.

As the story goes once Scrimo had listened over the telephone a song played by A Couple, a side (electronic) project formed by Rocco Rampino and Luca Fontaneto, and got so excited that he decided to make them play the upcoming festival.

Their main official and/or former bands were La Quiete and The Death Of Anna Karina (Rocco) and One Fine Day (Luca) but their friendship and artistic esteem were so big that they shared several other short-lived projects together, such as The Diamond Sea (an all star band with members of La Quiete, By All Means, The Death Of Anna Karina and other unforgettable personalities - Hey Arash! Hey Boris!- of those times), the above mentioned A Couple, and last but not least the side-side electronic project called Roccu and The Pop Anarchist which came to life and died with that very super diy record.

So A Couple performed at DanceOfDays Fest that day and for the occasion 50 copies of this cd were recorded and printed to be given to friends for free.

'That music never went out of our bedrooms, we never performed live' explains Luca.

'I totally forgot I made that record. Well now I do remember, but it's something which slipped my mind' says Rocco "If I am not wrong my track was recorded at my parents' in Lecce (Puglia, South of Italy) during Christmas holidays, then masterized at Luca's. In the early Noughties I moved up north (Forlì/Bologna) to go to uni, so I was obliged to record my stuff all in once, anytime I had the chance to go back to my hometown: at that time I did not even own a personal computer!

I downloaded a software which I still use nowadays to make music, Reaktor, and I recorded anything that came out at my first attempt. I don't remember much more about that record, I think Luca convinced me to release it on the occasion of the DanceOfDays festival and give it away for free...(At that time) We used to play together in The Diamond Sea, and this was meant to be a side project but then anything seemed like a side project in my eyes and just the fact that Luca was involved into it meant huge excitement and a short life ---> Roccu and the Pop Anarchist= 1 record. A couple= 1 show. The Diamond Sea= 1 track recorded and 5 shows.'

'Hey side projects are short-lived by definition!' replies Luca.

Okay Luca, do not take it personally, that way you passed into legend!

Band: Roccu + The Pop Anarchist

Title: s/t

Label: self released

Year: 2002

Genre: electronic / Warp

Location: Forlì (Emilia Romagna) + Novara (Piemonte)

Related Bands: La Quiete, One Fine Day, The Death Of Anna Karina, The Diamond Sea, A Couple, Le Ceneri, Hot Gossip, A Fog In The Shell, Mouth, Congorock

1. Why Do Children Die? (Roccu)

2.Cheetah Chrome Mutherfuckers (TPA)

3.Heading Down South (TPA)

4.Will You Ever Date Me? (TPA)

Roccu and The Pop Anarchist. rar

Solo Per I Tuoi Occhi - mid 90's HC videotape compilation

It spread out along the web today at the speed of light: it's a piece of history, memories, nostalgia.

You can't miss it if you lived those years, if you always wanted to live those years or if you are just a music geek.

This video compilation, dated 1995, contains footages recorded in 3 different italian squats in Veneto and Emilia Romagna, the most relevant areas during the mid/late 90's in terms of bands and gigs.

You will have the pleasure to watch, in order:

Snowfall (Vicenza)

Lifetime (Usa)

MOURN (Guastalla)

Omaha (USA)

Bluid (Treviso)

Konfettura (Cesena)

Concrete (Rome)

Metroschifter (Usa)

X gocce nel mare X (Vicenza)

Antisgammo (Padova)

Burning Defeat (Alessandria)

Ivory Cage (Bologna)

Gilda (Verona)

Bruma (Roma)

With Love (Vittorio Veneto - Treviso)

Peace Of Mind (n/a)

Geyser (Padova)

Daniele Brusaschetto Project Band (n/a)

Dalston's Creek zine

I haven't updated this blog recently for two different reasons:

firstly, I have been waiting for someone to send me some good material and anecdotes about a couple of old bands I wanted to write about and, unfortunately, still waiting, but finally they are maybe on their own way.

Secondly and mostly, I have been really busy in writing and publishing a paper zine together with my friend Elena

It is intended for an italian audience, as focused on London and on our adventures in this city and called Dalston's Creek.

Dalston's Creek will be out tomorrow, hopefully, but it will be officially launched this Saturday, 17th September at (the last) Anti Mtv Day Fest 10 which will take place in Bologna, Italy.

If you are italian and you read this blog you already know anything you need to know about this fest.

If you are a foreigner you can have a look at the flier to find out what bands will play and you can copy and paste this on google translator to find out what it is all about.

No need to add that meeting tons of people from all around the country you haven't seen for a while will be the best part of it.

However Dalston's Creek zine has page DalstonsCreekZine and you can click on LIKE and tell your friends.

A press release follows.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dalston’s creek zine sta raggiungendo il suo agognato traguardo: essere pubblicata.

Dopo mesi di futili preparativi e tempistiche sballate, questo pezzo unico della letteratura italiana - quantitativamente e qualitativamente parlando - potrá raggiungere le vostre scrivanie in ufficio, i vostri comodini, lo scaffale accanto al WC, il bidone del reciclabile.

Dalston’s Creek é una fanzine di carta che nasce nelle fredde lande d’Albione e di questa terra cerca di offrirvi uno spaccato permeato di affetto ed ironia, impertinenza ed entusiasmo.

Con contenuti impegnati tanto quanto una column su Heartattack, il suo lancio ufficiale dovrebbe avvenire in occasione dell’ultimo Antimtvday a Bologna il 17 settembre.

Prenotate la vostra copia, la potrete ottenere ad un ragionevolissimo prezzo ancora da fissare, che tuttavia ci permetterá di ripagare i nostri debiti con la vita oltre che la manovra finanziaria.

Scriveteci a questo indirizzo per comunicazioni di ogni sorta dalstonscreekzine@gmail.com

ed intanto PIACETECI su facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/DalstonsCreekZine

Grazie per l’attenzione.

Sara e Elena

Dalston’s Creek team.

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Regarding this blog, I will be back very soon. I promise.

Two Days Fest in Padova, 2001. Bellicosi, Encore Fou, Ohuzaru, Product.

Friday Night Fever is really uncool.

On a positive note, this wrecked Friday night has been saved by the finding of this shooting of a Two-days-fest which happened in Padova exactly 10 years ago. "Summer of 2001, June 10th" to quote Des Ark. It seems like it was yesterday.

It includes footages of Bellicosi, Encoure Fou, Product, and Ohuzaru.

Epic.

AFRAID!

Ok, nostalgia often gets the upper hand but sometimes there's no need to go that far back in the days, when there are bands that EVEN in the Noughties made such good music.

Afraid! is a five-piece band from Verona. A band that, for a certain period of time, I had to follow anywhere they play.

Their line up and sound have changed a lot through the years.

Just straight after their birth, years 2002- 2003, they sounded like The Get Up Kids (do not mention it to them, please!), then they went through that San Diego screamo phase which lasted for the majority of their years of activity, and then end up with a new-wawish touch in their last record Megalöklift released in 2009.

Now I tend to talk about Afraid! with the past tense due to the fact their last appearance happened long time ago but Afraid! are still in their rehearsal room, working on some new tunes which - according to their own opinion - many people won't like as much as the previous albums.

If you want to have a written definition of what you are going to listen through these pages, think to a somehow poppish and danceable version of the Crimson Curse, and there you go...you will have only a very far idea of what Afraid! sounds like. Definitions suck. The use of your own ears wins.

Afraid! - s/t EP

Band: Afraid!

Title: s/t, Ep

Label: self released

Year: 2004

Genre: San Diego wave

Location: Verona - Veneto

Artwork: ericailcane

1. Knock, Please

2. Kissing Joey Tempest

3. Red Refrain

4. Under Coppers Of The Chestnut Tree

5. Chicken Winged Angels

6. The Filthy Adultery

Afraid! Self Titled. rar

A Flower Kollapsed, Afraid! split cd

Band: Afraid! + A Flower Kollapsed

Title: -

Label: Error! Rec. + Holidays Rec.

Year: 2007

Genre: San Diego Wave + Math-core

Location: Verona - Veneto + Conegliano (Treviso) - Veneto.

Artwork: Tommaso Gorla

1. A Flower Kollapsed: Blank Picture is Cool.

2. A Flower Kollapsed: Chrocodile Two Meters Long, Three Three Meters.

3. Afraid!: Varenne, Varenne

4. Afraid!: Songoffedcka

A Flower Kollapsed, Afraid! split cd . rar

Afraid!, s/t, 7"

Band: Afraid!

Title: s/t

Label: Holidays Rec

Year: 2008

Genre: San Diego wave

Location: Verona - Veneto

Artwork: Canedicoda

1. The Aim Generator

2. Whenever Yo Go Dancing, There Always Be Someone Who Does The Robot

3. Sweaty Jesus After The Miracle

Afraid!, s/t 7" .rar

Emily

Another revolutionary act on my personal music life.

September 1996.

It's the beginning of a new scholastic year and, you know, a new year at school means always a new year in perspectives and lifestyle, especially when you are so young.

The first years of my teenage had been confused, as much as anyone else's I guess: switching seamlessly from a Faith No More Cd to a East17 one, while passing through Guns n' Roses and TLC. Some good hints mixed with embarrassing ones, where no criteria was the only criterion. (and I - kind of - esteem this type of attitude now, compared to that closed-minded stance of the following punk years for which the more obscure and unknown band, the better.. We were young though, can we be blamed for it?)

However, it was a Saturday evening and my brother asked me to go with him and see this band called Emily, which he had already run across a few days before.

He said I might have liked it too.

Only God knows why he had this thought as I was still uninitiated to the world of punk rock: evidently he saw some potentiality on me and yeah he was right.

A small music festival with local random bands was on in this nearby small village at the feet of the mountain. Honestly, nothing to go crazy about. Just lots of people and curious with nothing better to do on a still warm late summer weekend: a pleasant evening.

When Emily went on stage my perception of the whole thing changed drastically. I mean, apart from the music, which was captivating and mind-blowing, the atmosphere had something peculiar I couldn't describe. Those 3 guys were playing and singing and their friends were around there, singing and having fun with them. And there was no distinction between performers and audience. The only thing you could clearly distinguish were their colorful hair (oh yes, the 90's!) and their skateboards.

I fell in love with this scene.

At the end of the show I went by the merchandise stall to buy their tape: "Let us know what you think of it" it's what I was told by the guys behind the distro.

SERIOUSLY? I had no courage to show my astonishment but...do you really care about what I think? This was something really new to me.

I guess this was my first engagement with D.I.Y

Emily had been active from 1995 to 1997.

They were about 17 years old at that time and they sang and made a point about love life issues, homosexual relationships, squats, idol worship, nuclear testing/environmental exploitation.

After this experience Enrico, Manuel and Marco had several other bands.

Worth to mention that Alain from To Die For had been the only 4th member for a short period of time.

They are now the less nostalgic thirty-year-old guys I have ever met though, so I don't think we will ever be able to have any further news about this band, nor a reunion. R.I.P.

Band: Emily

Title: s/t

Label: Scufiòt

Year: 1996

Genre: punk rock

Location: Maniago (Pordenone), Friuli.

Related bands: Oliver, Oslo, To Die For, Ulan Bator, Man On Wire.

1. Strong Man

2. Waiting For Me

3. Peaceful Holiday

4. Mary's Got A Garden

5. A Book

6. Picture's Room

7. Love Your Love

Emily .rar

Handrail, Fossil (Unreleased)

When I was at the High School/Secondary School (or whatever it is called, I'll never learn) back in the 90's, there were 3 different papers, which for some reasons I constantly looked through more than anything else:

° the Italian vocabulary

° the atlas

° the Greenrecords mailorder catalogue, year 1999

The latter, according to universal awareness, was something more than a simple catalogue.

To me it has been the abc of the hc, the ancestor wikipedia of punk, my personal trainer into the world of indipendent music and most of all the best means to discover new bands and make safe purchases. (Not true: I have to admit that without a sneak preview of a record - read: the Internet- was very easy to waste your money in something which you hoped was better).

However the reviews were short and brief, with no annoying stately language, no circumlocutions, just a simple and handy definition with links to similar bands. Sometimes those writings were so sincere that they seemed to question any laws of marketing.

And so was in there that I spent days and days just by reading it, studying it, and then highlighting with three different colours the records that I might have liked the most, in order to make a savvy and sensible choice. Then after the final decision, the letter was ready to be sent via ordinary mail and after weeks of eager waiting finally the parcel was able to reach your house.

There was one record in that catalogue which I had waited with hope and anxiety for years. It was advertised as a coming new release for Green Rec and it featured members of my beloved Burning Defeat playing some kind of (old school) emo: Handrail.

After postponing the releasing date tons of times, eventually the record never came out.

Those 8 tracks can finally see the light.

click to enlarge

This is a short biography written by Andrea X Ferraris (long life to him!) one of its members, as well as of Burning Defeat.

Handrail had been active since 1998 to 1999 and after several line-up changes the only permanent members were me on guitar/vocals and Tony on drums. Fossil was recorded by Daniele Giordana at One Voice Studio in Chivasso, the final line-up was Tony on drums, Fulvio (from Permanent Scar/Jilted) on bass (who replaced Ilo), Daria on guitar and me on guitar/vocals. This recording should have been released by Green Rec/Genet Rec, but we called it quits right after the recording because I was more absorbed by OneFineDay and Tony was deeply involved with his medical studies to become a doctor.

Karate, Idaho and The Van Pelt were our cup of tea back in the days...

Band: Handrail
Title: Fossil
Label: Unreleased (Supposedly Green Records / Genet Records)
Year: 1998
Genre: Indie/emocore
Location: Alessandria- Piemonte
Related Bands: Burning Defeat, One Fine Day, Deep End and many more

1. Russian Roulette With A Bon Bon
2. Sleeping Bag
3. Fossil
4. Fader
5. End Of A Season
6. Supernova Burner
7. Glory Box
8. Ilo

Handrail, Fossil (unreleased) . zip

Negazione - Sempre In Bilico

Elder brothers have several different functions in the family context. Elements of comparison, bad babysitters, perpetrators of your psycological abuse, playmates and so on. If you are lucky enough though they might own a few records which, actively o passively you are keen on/compelled to listen to.

I spent years and years of my childhood being forced to listen to those James Brown's 300db shrieks (forgive me, King of Soul, this is what a white 8 year-old-girl can think of you if put through an extended and unwanted listening of your music. I will later understand), or heavy metal tunes I didnt want to know (exasperated eventually even my father once was obliged to admit he didn't mind the Slayer. Hilarious). Some other times things went better and I ended up, ages later, finding out that I loved bands I couldnt think I would have loved. The power of passive listening.

In other words the access to your brothers' record collection can be a considerable victory if you bump into a Negazione lp in the very moment you are discovering the joy(s) of punk.

That's what actually happened a few years ago (15? a few? uh?) when someone living under my same roof told me to listen to Sempre in Bilico 7" from Negazione.

Given for granted that everybody knows them and they don't need any further introduction.

Straight from Torino in the 80's they are literally a piece of history of (the middle age of) italian punk.

Band: Negazione
Title: Sempre in Bilico
Label: We Bite Rec.
Year: 1989
Genre: punk
Location: Torino - Piemonte

1. Sempre in bilico
2. La nostra vita

Negazione - Sempre In Bilico 7"